Is this the wave of the future, will people now be fired via text message? What ever happened to old fashioned etiquette, business and personal? No matter how many times they tried to get in touch with her, it could have waited for another day. And I just don't buy the "youth culture" thing as a justification, it is still a business and should behave as such.

I also read that Kid Rick broke up with his previous girlfriend via text message when he hooked up again with Pam and they decided to get married. That's cold.

Fri Aug 4

London (AFP) A company has defended its decision to sack one of its staff by text message, claiming it was keeping in touch with youth culture.

Katy Tanner, a 21-year-old sales assistant, received the message while she was off work with a migraine, the South Wales Echo newspaper said Friday.

The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us."

"I don't think it's right to just text someone. At least they should have talked to me face to face," Tanner said.

"You're not allowed to text in sick, you have to phone. The fact that they texted me is a bit of double standards."

Several senior staff members at Blue Banana, a body-piercing and jewellery shop based in Cardiff, defended the decision.

But company director Jon Taylor added that an internal investigation was underway to see if "the ultimate action was ideal".

The retailer claims it tried to reach Tanner directly "five or six times" and passed on a message through her boyfriend before the text was sent.

And store director Ian Besbie added that the dismissal method was fair because texting was a part of "youth culture".

"We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses SMS (text) messaging as a major means of communication," he said.

The company employs about 120 people in Britain, many of them aged under 21.

That's very unprofessional. No one should be fired in any way other than via a face to face conversation. Bugger youth culture!

I know that I’m not the only one it annoys. My boyfriend (who’s German) spent a good deal of the spring casting doubt on the ancestry, personal hygiene, etc of the German national coach because he supposedly fired a player via e-mail. Oh joy, to listen to that for 2 months every time someone used the words foot, ball, or Jürgen Mind you, he did have some hilariously creative, though anatomically impossible, suggestions along the way.